O Adonai - 18th December

Today we address our awaited Saviour as “Adonai and Leader who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai” as we implore him to “come and save us with outstretched arm.”

When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Moses was not seeking God – he was just going about his daily business, looking after the flock – it was God who took the initiative and broke into Moses’ life – and not just for Moses’ sake but for the sake of the Israelite people who were held in the bondage of slavery in Egypt: “I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt …I am well aware of their sufferings and I have come down to rescue them and bring them out from the clutches of Egypt to a country rich and broad.” (cf Ex 3: 7-8)

It is this same God who takes the initiative with Mary and Joseph – He announces to Joseph in a dream that the child whom Mary is carrying is the Saviour and is to be called ‘Jesus’ because he will save his people from their sins”   He is “Emmanuel” God-with-us – our Saviour whom we await and to whom we cry out in the words of the Roman Missal, pleading with Him to come and deliver us from the bondage of our sin: “Grant, we pray, Almighty God that we who are weighed down from of old by slavery beneath the yoke of sin  may be set free by the newness of the long-awaited birth of your only begotten Son.”

We have only to look into our own hearts and in the world around us to realise how much we are enslaved by sin and the tendency to sin.  We desperately need freedom but unfortunately we often have false perceptions of what true freedom is. 

 In the first Exodus Moses led the Israelites from slavery to freedom so that they could worship God on Mt Sinai.  They were forged into a people in the desert and given a law by which to live.    Jesus our Saviour is the new Moses who leads us from the bondage of sin to the freedom of the children of God; makes us a royal priesthood – united with our High Priest through, with and in Whom we can offer the true worship in spirit and truth.  He does not set us free from afar – He is God-with-us – for Christ is not just a way to follow – “He is the very path we tread through the wilderness, the spiritual spring that quenches our thirst and the bread that nourishes us in his body” (cf Jean Corbon- Path to Freedom).   Like the Israelites of old we too are forged into a new People of God in the Body of the Risen Christ.  He is the path that leads us out of our isolation and self absorption into communion with our sisters and brothers.  As long as we remain locked in our own self-sufficiency we continue being slaves – we only become free to the extent that we open up in communion with others.  “The spontaneity of love is our true autonomy.” (Jean Corbon)

O Adonai and Leader of the house of Israel who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai, come and save us with your outstretched arm.

See also posts for 18th December 2011, 2010

Reflection on the 'O Antiphon' - 18th December

Below is the text of a reflection give by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which speaks of Christ appearing to Moses in the burning bush. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below)

O Adonai and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush and you gave him the Law on Sinai. O come and save us with your mighty power.

Today’s ‘O Antiphon’ refers to God’s coming to His people while they were living in slavery in Egypt. He reveals Himself as the ‘Holy One’, the ‘Transcendent One’ as He calls out to Moses: “Come no nearer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Yet He is not aloof from His people’s plight. He says: “I have seen the misery of my people. I have heard their cries for help – I have come down to rescue them and bring them to a land rich and broad, a country flowing with milk and honey.” (cf Ex 3:1-6)

It is this same God who approaches Mary through the Angel and asks her consent to be the mother of the “child who will be holy” (Lk1:36) and who “will save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). It is the same Holy One who is with us on our altar, under the signs of bread and wine – and the One whom we meet in the least of our sisters and brothers!

As I reflected on this antiphon, it was the image of fire and the burning bush which held my attention. Fire cannot be hidden, cannot be contained – otherwise it is extinguished. It gives light and warmth. Fire draws and consumes everything within its reach – it knows no boundaries but transforms into fire everything with which it comes in contact. It is never satisfied, for the more it consumes, the fiercer are the flames and the greater its capacity to consume more. Think of the forest fires which become uncontrollable in dry weather!

This image of fire is a very good image of our God – no wonder our innate selfishness fills us with fear of saying ‘yes’ to Him – fear that if we give Him an inch He may take a mile! “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29) – even if at times we experience this fire as darkness - while He is always drawing us into His love, so too our selfishness is being consumed in the fire of that love. Yet His message is always one of liberation – not just for ourselves but for all His people. The more we surrender to His plan for us, the more we experience true freedom.

Just as He needed Moses and Mary, so today He stands at the door of our hearts inviting us to His co-workers. Will we respond as Mary did with: “behold here I am; let it be done unto me”? Will we allow Him to possess us in such a way that we might radiate His living, loving presence in our troubled and darkened world? St Catherine said: “if you are what you are meant to be, you would set fire to the whole of Europe”.

O Adonai and leader of Israel, you appeared to Moses in a burning bush and you gave him the Law on Sinai. O come and save us with your mighty power.

The 'O' Antiphons: 18th December

‘O Adonai, Ruler of the house of Israel, who gave the Law to Moses on Sinai,
come to save us with out-stretched arm, Alleluia’.

This is a prayer made from a truly humble and trusting heart, that knows its need of our heavenly Father to save us.

The theme of God’s outstretched arm to help his people is found frequently in Scripture and must surely touch us deeply. For example Psalm 97 – ‘His right hand and his holy arm have brought salvation’.

There is something comforting in arms outstretched towards us, we feel needed and loved and this gives us an inner security.
In daily life, we often see a loving mother or father stretch out their arms to save their child from some danger or simply to swoop the child up to give a hug.

When we return from a journey after a long absence, what a joy it is to be welcomed home by a loved one running to meet us with outstretched arms. It cannot be less so with our heavenly Father, he is always, and everywhere stretching out his arms to welcome us and to save us. We have only to reflect on the parable of the Prodigal son in St. Luke’s Gospel (Chapter 15). Who could fail to be deeply touched as in our mind’s eye we watch that loving father run with outstretched arms to welcome and embrace his wayward son. The Gospels are full of occasions where Jesus stretches out his arms, his hands, to bring life, healing and salvation by his divine touch.

During this Advent Season, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we are surely filled anew with wonder at the depths of love that led our heavenly father with those same outstretched arms to send his only begotten Son as our Redeemer – that Son who some 30 years later, stretched out his arms on the Cross in an immense act of love and died for our salvation.

Such unconditional love means God is summoning us forth with the loudest of calls, stirring up our hidden being, pleading with us to return love for love – ‘I have loved you’ he tells us ‘with an everlasting love, therefore I have drawn you to myself’. How right it is then that each evening before we sleep, the Church invites us, in her night prayer of Compline, to place ourselves trustfully in the outstretched arms and hands of our Father as we pray: ‘Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit’.

O Ruler of the house of Israel, come and save us with outstretched arm.